Air Monitoring 31
An example offering is a solution offers LoRa coverage across Europe via a large, high capacity satellite. IoT sensors sited at peat bogs measuring water levels, subsidence, temperature and GHG densities, would send data to a LoRa module. The module then uses licensed S-band frequencies to send the data to the satellite, where it is sent to the Internet via a satellite gateway Earth station and a LoRaWAN® compatible network infrastructure.
For environmental monitoring, S-band offers great advantages over other bands, in particular its signifi cant resistance to signal fading caused by rain, snow and ice. This means it can continue to provide access to data from peat monitoring sensors during changing atmospheric conditions, such as the inclement weather often experienced in Europe.
Research across continents
One of the major attractions for researchers investigating the changes happening to peatlands is that, while terrestrial connections can cover short to medium distances, satellites can cover a whole continent. This offers the opportunity of continent wide research programmes that can take account of changing climate conditions and weather patterns, correlating these with changes to the peatlands over a very wide area. A real time view of a whole continent’s peatlands could offer new opportunities for novel insights about peatland degradation that could not be gleaned from a more partial view of isolated areas.
Achieving automated readings is done through the use of sensors that can collect data and send it over the Internet of Things (IoT). Examples include a system developed by the UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology which has developed a time-lapse camera that takes daily observations of peat surface elevation. [1]
The system consists of a time lapse camera mounted on a lightweight platform. The platform ‘fl oats’ on the peat surface, allowing the camera to take a photograph of a target attached to the subsidence pole and providing a high resolution measurement of the relative displacement between camera and target. Instead of sending the actual photograph, the system uses software to extract the measurement data from the image and sends this instead. Such a system cuts the data to be sent and would allow low bandwidth IoT connectivity methods to be used.
Another example of IoT in peat management is a project conducted at the Raja Musa Forest Reserve (RMFR) in Kuala Selangor, Malaysia. [2]
The project uses sensors for soil temperature and humidity alongside an electronic piezometer used to measure the peat’s water level. A wireless gateway has been set up at a nearby lookout tower to collect all data from the sensor nodes using LoRa® (Long Range) technology.
In Europe, one of the fi rst projects of its kind is using a network of remotely monitored IoT sensors to help monitor the health of peatland in Scotland’s Western Isles. [3] Using these IoT sensors in a remote area has enabled the project to gather real-time live data, vital to monitoring how the water table responds to efforts to restore the peatlands.
Indirectly, peatlands can be protected by ensuring that farmers extract only the water they need for irrigation, avoiding depletion of the fragile water supplies that support peat bogs. This can be done by monitoring soil and leaf humidity using IoT sensors, giving a more accurate picture of the water needs of crops.
LoRa fi ts the bill
The monitoring of peatland conditions involves taking frequent sensor readings over extended periods of time, sending small amounts of data from sensors distributed over a wide area, often in diffi cult to reach or remote areas.
Accessing this data is therefore a challenge, requiring a connectivity system that is both robust, offers constant access and requires little maintenance or manual visits.
LoRa®, short for Long Range, is ideal to meet these challenges. It takes the form of a low power, terrestrial wireless platform for IoT, based on a series of integrated circuits developed by Semtech.
Transceivers confi gured with these LoRa devices are embedded
Author Contact Details Telemaco Melia, General Manager, EchoStar Mobile • Hughes House, 26 Rockingham Dr, Linford Wood, Milton Keynes MK14 6PD, UK • Tel: +44(0)1908 422900 • Web:
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into end nodes, or sensor devices, such as a piezometer. These sensors capture data and transmit it to gateways, which in turn send it over the air to the network.
For remote monitoring of peatlands over extended areas, LoRa® compares well with terrestrial connectivity technologies such as 4G and fi bre. LoRa® offers rapid deployment over a wide area, reducing both capital and operational costs. It offers advantages over cellular technologies such as Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), whose devices consume a lot of power, and which therefore need frequent battery replacement.
LoRaWAN® (Long Range Wide Area Network) is the open- source network architecture standardized for LoRa devices and developed by the LoRa Alliance. It becomes even more useful when combined with satellite access.
Satellite access adds a whole new dimension
Less than 20% of the Earth’s surface has terrestrial connectivity. Due to the signifi cantly lower density of users in remote areas, it’s unlikely that terrestrial services will ever see major expansion beyond their current deployment. In particular, serving the often remote wilderness areas where many peatlands are located is beyond the economic viability of terrestrial networks. This leaves a requirement for connectivity that is best served by satellite.
This continent wide access to data is best achieved using satellites in a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO). GEO satellites travel at the same angular velocity as the Earth and therefore they appear to remain fi xed above the same point. This means that satellite antennas on the ground do not have to track the satellite and can remain pointed at a fi xed place in the sky, simplifying the design of ground equipment.
Further benefi ts are gained from the use of LoRa® Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum [LR-FHSS] in licensed S-Band. Developed by Semtech, LR-FHSS allows direct to satellite data links from IoT devices with greater reliability, higher performance, lower power consumption and additional robustness to interference.
It’s clear that satellite enabled IoT offers great advantages in the struggle to understand and protect peatlands. With anytime, anywhere access to current fi eld data, researchers have a powerful tool with which to protect these vital natural resources.
References:
[1] Peatland mapping and monitoring – Recommendations and technical overview – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
https://www.fao.org/3/ca8200en/ca8200en.pdf
[2]
https://www.mimos.my/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ Preventing-Forest-fi re_latest27Oct.pdf
[3]
https://www.farrpoint.com/news/Scottish-IoT-project
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